


Sweet Caroline

by stacyTHEemo



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: F/M, Origin Story, Rick L-324, Rick's past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 17:40:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11560140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stacyTHEemo/pseuds/stacyTHEemo
Summary: When Morty makes a discovery regarding Rick's past, he can't help but want to know more. This is Rick's story, from his school days to grumpy grandpa.Rated for sex to come in later chapters.





	Sweet Caroline

Morty had studied the picture for days. Ever since he had knocked over that box in the garage full of Rick's stuff. 

"For fucks sake Morty!"

"It's not my fault!"

"Yeah, sure... the wind blew it over. Just pick it up... you better not have broken anything."

"I didn't, geez..." he replied, kneeling on the ground as he began placing the items back in the box... various vials and gadgets that Rick had worked on over the years. One of the items was small notebook that had landed with it's spine up, open against the floor. When Morty picked it up to put it back in the box, a picture had glided out from between its dusty pages. 

It was Rick... a much younger Rick, back when he had dark brown hair. And he was with a girl who Morty had never seen before. They both looked so... happy.

Morty jerked his head up. Rick had turned his back to him yet again, returning to the latest project on his desk. Morty slid the photo into his pocket, then picked up the notebook that it had fallen out of. He skimmed it briefly, it was full of scribblings and doodles... some of them were rather good.

He tossed the remaining items in the box and set the notebook on top for easy access. "T-T-There you go, Rick. Hey, do you need me for anything else?"

"Yeah, I have a b-barrel of toxic waste I need knocked over too," Rick replied with snide.

"Whatever..." Morty replied, slipping inside the house and heading up to his room. He pulled the photo out of his pocket and had been there ever since... but not because of the photo itself. Not that the photo and the mystery woman weren't intriguing enough. It was what was scribbled on the back...

Caroline, 1977  
L-324

Morty knew a dimension number when he saw one. Was that where the girl was from? Was that where Rick was from?

No. Rick had always said that they were from dimension E-540... but if that was the case, why would he have a picture of some other Rick? Unless maybe he just visited that dimension years ago... but could he even dimension hop back then?

Morty's brain was an explosion of questions. Rick and the girl looked like they were in their late teens, early twenties... Rick wore a relaxed smile, an expression that Morty rarely saw grace the old man's face these days. The girl looked like she wasn't even aware of a picture being taken... she had turned her head, looking up at Rick with a smile that looked like she had been laughing just moments before the photo was taken. 

She was cute. Dark hair, nice smile... perfect boobs, Morty subconsciously thought then shook the thought from his mind. "Ugh, she's Rick's age now, what's wrong with you?" Morty scolded himself. 

But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a story behind this photo. Perhaps even secrets... and he wanted to know them, but the only person who he could go to was Rick... and he wasn't much of a sharer. How was he even suppose to bring this up?

Oh hey Rick, found this picture. It fell out of a notebook from that box of stuff I knocked over. So who's this lady cause it's not grandma. By the way, are you my real grandfather?

Morty shook his head. He should've left well enough alone... but Rick was aging. They had just celebrated his 74th birthday. Morty hated to think of a day where Rick wouldn't be there to take him on adventures. Despite knowing Rick the best out of everyone in the house, he knew Rick had only ever let him see the tip of the iceberg. Okay, maybe 40 percent of the iceberg... but Morty wasn't unaware of all that Rick kept from him. 

Honestly, he didn't want to know about all the shady things his grandpa did... but he got tied up in them, one way or another. Like now...

A few days had passed since Morty found the photo. They had just narrowly escaped the authorities after a weapons deal went south, but they had gotten away with the brapples they had been promised, so Rick was pleased. He sipped contently from his flask as they cruised home in the spaceship. 

"Y-Y-You gotta love it Morty... bad guy gets fucked, b-but we still made out in the end. Got our brapples... y-y-you did good. I think you've earned yourself a day at Blipz and Chitz~" he practically sang.

"Y-Yeah Rick, that sounds pretty cool," Morty replied. 

"Don't bust a nut from excitement Morty..." Rick scoffed. "What's been up with you anyway?"

"Huh?"

"You've been distracted these past few days... don't think I didn't notice."

The question sat right on the tip of Morty's tongue, but how... how could he ask him that?

"Are you gonna spit it out?"

"It's nothing," Morty replied quickly, fidgeting in his seat. The spaceship felt five times hotter.

"Morty, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I-I-If I ask, you can't get mad!"

"Jesus, Morty... fine, I won't get mad," he replied tauntingly. 

Morty focused on looking out into the deep expanse of space in front of him while his lips worked hard to form the words. "A-Are... are you... are you my real grandpa?"

A silence hung in the ship for what seemed like a longer time than it actually was. When Morty looked to get a peak at Rick, he noticed he was much stiffer than he was a few seconds ago. He unscrewed the cap from his flask and took a long swig.

"Why are you asking, Morty?"

"Uh, I've j-just... I've always wondered, ya know... ever since you took me to the Citadel," Morty lied, not wanting to bring up the photo just yet. Rick let out a sigh. 

"I'm not your biological grandpa, Morty," Rick answered, and Morty only stared at him as he took in this news. 

It was true...

"But as far as I'm concerned, I am your REAL grandpa. It's not like I killed your original Rick and took his place or anything... it's been me putting up with your whiny ass this whole time. We're the only Rick and Morty we've ever known."

"It's cool, Rick! I don't really care that you're not my biological grandpa. I just wanted to know... ya know? Like, what was your original dimension? Did you have a family there? What happened to my other grandpa?"

"Woah woah... slow your roll, kid. Don't you need any time to process this? I mean, I thought you'd be a little more surprised."

"No, I mean... I'm glad you told me. I just wanna know the real you, ya know?"

"I guess," Rick shrugged, taking another sip. "Awful inquisitive today, M-Morty... your other grandpa died a good while ago... before you were even born. I don't know how... I just knew this universe had an open position for a Rick."

"What about your Morty?"

"I'm looking at him..."

"You didn't have one back in your original dimension?"

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Rick muttered, sipping from his flask again. 

"Who's Caroline?"

Rick choked on this bourbon. He coughed and sputtered, and Morty knew he was in for it. "Oh shit, I-I-I'm sorry Rick!"

Rick worked on composing himself, resting his head on the steering wheel. Silence returned to the ship once Rick had stopped coughing and Morty had subconsciously made himself as small as he could in the passenger seat. 

Rick sharply turned his head in Morty's direction, his brow furrowed and his eyes thin slits. "Where did you hear that name, Morty?" he asked, his voice low. Morty fidgeted with his fingers. 

"I-I-It was nothing Rick, forget I said anything."

"You think I'm some kind of simpleton, Morty?" Rick practically growled, straightening himself out and reaching across the ship. He grabbed Morty by his shoulders. 

"Woah, I'm sorry Rick! Take it easy!"

"What did you find, Morty?! Spit it out!"

"A-A-A picture, okay?! I found a picture when I knocked over that stuff!" Morty struggled to reach into his back pocket, but he managed to get the photo in-between his two fingers and pulled it out, shoving it into Rick's chest. Rick released him and fell back into his seat, his hand on the picture pressed against his chest... almost as if he was afraid to move his hand and see the photo beneath. 

Geez... Morty hadn't been expecting that reaction. "I-I-I'm sorry Rick, I just saw it and I couldn't help it... you both looked so happy and it just made me really curious, I–"

"Shut up, Morty," Rick snapped, his voice rough. Morty stopped rambling and slowly straightened himself out in his seat. Rick peeled his hand from his chest, the photo resting in his palm. Rick took an intake of breath, rubbing his thumb over Caroline's face. 

Morty was worried he had made a mistake. What if she had died? What if she broke his heart? Morty was worried that Rick was about to rip the picture in half or throw it out into the vacuum of space... but instead, he slipped it into his lab coat much to Morty's relief. They sat there in silence, Morty's anxiety creeping up on him. What if he really pissed Rick off? He just uncovered two major details of his past...

"Y-You really shouldn't have gone through my things, Morty..."

"I know, Rick... I'm sorry."

"Did you ever stop to think that there was a reason that you found that picture wedged between the pages of a dusty journal?"

"Of course I did, Rick! B-But I wanna know more about you! I-I mean... you know pretty much everything there is to know about me. You probably know things that I don't even know, but its taken nearly five years of adventuring before I figured out today that you're from a different dimension... and I mean, that's cool and all. I know you're still my Rick, I just thought if you saw the picture, it would... I don't know... inspire you to tell me your story or Caroline's story or something," Morty nervously rambled.

Rick sipped once again from his flask and burped when he was finished. "Carrie," he sighed. 

"Huh?"

"She hated the name Caroline... I'd only call her that if I wanted to get her riled up. She preferred Carrie," Rick said flatly. 

"O-Oh, okay... Carrie... h-how did you meet her?" Morty dared to ask, his eyes large as he looked up at Rick who grumbled. 

"Fine! But just this once... my family had just moved. I had ruined the garage of our last place..." Rick smirked.

**Author's Note:**

> Here goes nothing!
> 
> Rick and Morty belongs to Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.


End file.
